This invention relates generally to wind turbines, and more particularly to methods of fabricating wind turbine rotor blades utilizing a micro-porous membrane.
Recently, wind turbines have received increased attention as an environmentally safe and relatively inexpensive alternative energy source. With this growing interest, considerable efforts have been made to develop wind turbines that are reliable and efficient.
Generally, a wind turbine includes a rotor having multiple blades. The rotor is mounted on a housing or nacelle, which is positioned on top of a truss or tubular tower. Utility grade wind turbines (i.e., wind turbines designed to provide electrical power to a utility grid) can have large rotors (e.g., 30 or more meters in diameter). Blades on these rotors transform wind energy into a rotational torque or force that drives one or more generators, rotationally coupled to the rotor through a gearbox or directly coupled to the rotor. The gearbox, when present, steps up the inherently low rotational speed of the turbine rotor for the generator to efficiently convert mechanical energy to electrical energy, which is fed into a utility grid.
Known wind turbine blades are fabricated by infusing a resin into a fiber wrapped core. A layer of distribution mesh is used to feed resin into the core material. The infusion flow front is controlled by breaks in the distribution mesh which require exact positioning for the desired results. Also, the distribution mesh is discarded along with the resin that is retained in the mesh, about 650 grams per square meter.